Synthetos board does not respond

[psyko]

Hello,

I’ve been finally setting up my TinyG board.
After giving a quick try before setting it in its enclosure, it worked ok.
I managed to connect, and retrieve informations.
I even tried to use TgFx which told me my firmware version was too old (370.08, the master firmware version if I remember well). (By the way, is it normal that TgFX doesn’t work with the master fw version ? )

Anyway, I set everyting up in the enclosure, mounted the fan, and so on. And now, the board doesn’t respond. I manage to connect to the COM port, but no answer from the board.
On the board :
– The blue light is on,
– At start, the Spindle blinks 3 times long and then 1 quick blink, in approximatively 3 or 4 seconds. (no bootloader ??? )
– When sending data, the TX orange led blinks.

First time, I powered the board off using the Estop button, located on the AC line, before my stabilized PSU. I’ve read that this could be an issue. Where are we on this ?

I do not have any programmer. What can I do ?

For now, the board is simply not usable.
Thanks

My issue looks a lot like this thread : https://www.synthetos.com/users/admin/replies/page/2/

[Riley]

If your board it blinking at startup then you have a bootloader. I am not sure what you are describing? So everything worked. Then you mounted it, then it no longer worked?

I am not sure if this is what you are experiencing, however there is a FTDI driver issue where if you disconnect the TinyG while plugged in you cannot reconnect until you power off the TinyG and reboot your machine.

Again not sure if this has anything to do with what you are experiencing. From what you are describing you should be able to update your firmware to EDGE if you would like. (Edge right now is the only version that works with tgFX).

Instructions for doing so are here:
https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/TinyG-Boot-Loader-&-ISP-Programming#updating-tinyg-firmware-using-the-boot-loader

Riley

[psyko]

Hello, thanks for the answer.

At my first connection, following this wiki page https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/Connecting-TinyG
I received the expected response (an Json {“r”:…} response enveloppe) but I don’t remember the content.

Then I unplugged the power and assembled it into my enclosure.
After that, I tried the exact same steps (coolterm, 115.200 bauds… so on), and I do not have any JSON answer. The serial port is listed, and I manage to connect to it, but the board remain silent.
I even tried with tgfx which is stuck at :

”
[+]Connected to COM5 Serial Port Successfully.

Getting TinyG Firmware Build Version….
”

I already tried to update the FTDI drivers, try to restart my computer, reset the TinyG board, change US§B cable. Nothing works.

Updating firmware gives me an error :

C:\Program Files\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\tools\avr\bin>avrdude.exe -p x192a3 -c
vr109 -b 115200 -P COM5 -U flash:w:tinyg.hex

Connecting to programmer: .
Found programmer: Id = “XBoot++”; type = S
Software Version = 1.7; No Hardware Version given.
Programmer supports auto addr increment.
Programmer supports buffered memory access with buffersize=512 bytes.

Programmer supports the following devices:
Device code: 0x7b

avrdude.exe: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.01s

avrdude.exe: Device signature = 0x1e9744
avrdude.exe: NOTE: FLASH memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be perf
rmed
To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude.exe: erasing chip
avrdude.exe: reading input file “tinyg.hex”
avrdude.exe: input file tinyg.hex auto detected as raw binary
avrdude.exe: writing flash (204800 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 26.94s

avrdude.exe: 204800 bytes of flash written
avrdude.exe: verifying flash memory against tinyg.hex:
avrdude.exe: load data flash data from input file tinyg.hex:
avrdude.exe: input file tinyg.hex auto detected as raw binary
avrdude.exe: input file tinyg.hex contains 204800 bytes
avrdude.exe: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 26.20s

avrdude.exe: verifying …
avrdude.exe: verification error, first mismatch at byte 0x30000
0x6c != 0x0d
avrdude.exe: verification error; content mismatch

avrdude.exe done. Thank you.

[psyko]

Ok got it to work.

Reinstalling firmware (with same version did the job).

Previous error was that while downloading, Windows changed the format of the file from Intel Hex to Binary Raw.

Is it possible to only download the latest firmware at the correct format, without cloning the git repo ?

Thanks

[Riley]

I am not entirely sure what you are asking for. However,
https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/raw/edge/firmware/tinyg/default/tinyg.hex
Is the link to the latest Edge tinyg.hex

https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/raw/master/firmware/tinyg/default/tinyg.hex
would be the most current master.

The only reason I am including edge is that right now its the version that works with tgFX. This was a mistake I made. I promoted tgFX faster than we pushed to master. SO in the future the 2nd link above will be the “lastest working / tested” hex firmware file for tinyg. Is that what you were asking for? I am glad you got it however. If you have any additional information as to why it just “stopped working” I would very much like to hear. Anything you might have not included as you thought it had nothing to do with it or anything like that.

glad you are working psyko. So what you building? Lets see what you go 🙂

[psyko]

Riley,

Thanks but for some reasons, the link you provide don’t work. I mean, when I do “Register as” in firefox, the MIME type of the file change. It was recognized as a binary raw by AVR Dude (and the size of the file was around 900ko). I had to download the full repository as a zip file to have the correct MIME type. It was then recognized as an Intel Hex and worked perfectly. I moved to the edge version of the Firmware.

Regarding the process for a non responsive board, I think I told you everything. The only thing I did to fix was to reinstall the firmware (the exact same master version) and it worked like a charm. I even managed to get my motor to move. I still have to set the correct values in the setting.

I’m running a custom Shapeoko :
http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1608
And the enclosure is
http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1922

I won’t be able to post pictures, since I’m away from my workshop for at least 2 weeks now.

Thanks for the help.
I can’t wait to test my TinyG board. I was using Grbl (without issues) before and switch for the 4th motor support and the configurable microstepping that’s lacking on Grbl.

I’ll keep you in touch

[Author]

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